The Internet of Things refers to a network in which information about a physical world is obtained by deploying various devices capable of awareness, computation, execution, and communication, and information transmission, coordination, and processing are implemented by using a network, so that human beings and things are interconnected and things are interconnected.
Smart meter reading is an important application in the Internet of Things. For example, the smart meter reading may be specifically used to automatically read metering information of water, electricity, gas, and the like, and report the metering information to a data center. This type of service is usually small packet transmission performed at an extremely low data rate, and may be completed in a silent period during which less other services exist. User equipment having the smart meter reading is usually mounted in a residential basement, or is isolated by a metal housing, or is placed in an old building with thick walls. In this case, a path between the user equipment and a base station suffers a heavy loss. Considering factors such as costs and a frequency spectrum, when it is unexpected to add a new site and relay device, how to ensure coverage for the user equipment during paging for the user equipment to provide a service for the user equipment is a problem to be resolved.